Peter Feeds Wearside Food Bank with Community Spirit

When he’s not studying his
PhD, lecturing or taking care of his three children, Peter Asuata alongside
wife Aimee is running a food bank at the church where he works as a pastor in
Sunderland.

The two food banks they help
run at RCCG Living Faith Church in North Bridge Street, Sunderland, continue to
stay open (Wednesdays 5.30am and Sundays
11am) as long as possible during the coronavirus outbreak, supporting
those in greatest need. They are also appealing for donations.

Peter’s incredible work ethic
comes from his mother and humble upbringing in a small Nigerian village which
he believes shaped the person he is today, dedicated to improving life of
others.

“Wherever you are, look left,
look right, there will always be someone who is worse off than you. As a
Christian I have a responsibility to help others in need, because that is the
core foundation of Christianity, and never has there been a greater need than
right now,” says Peter. “We run two food banks a week at RCCG Living Faith
Sunderland and we want to help as many families as we can escape hunger and
poverty. All sorts of people come through our doors, those struggling with
substance misuse or homelessness, asylum seekers as well as families struggling
with the impact of Universal Credit and now the coronavirus, we never turn
anyone away irrespective of their race, religion, or background.”

Having lived in London for few
years, then moving to The Netherlands to join his wife Aimee for several years,
Peter then came back to the UK with his family in 2014 to study a Master’s
in Business management (MBM) at the University of Sunderland. After
deciding to further his studies with a PhD in Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) focusing on the North East of England. Peter explained: “I chose
Sunderland because I felt my family would benefit being away from the hustle
and bustle of the Capital”.

While his PhD will be
completed in 2021/2022, looking at the role of regional companies in giving back to society, Peter
has landed the role of an academic tutor in the University’s Faculty of
Business, Law and Tourism, alongside his community work as Pastor at the RCCG
Living Faith Sunderland.

He is so dedicated to helping
others, that Peter has managed to negotiate with some of the area’s major food
outlets and supermarkets for collections of food that would otherwise go
to waste, such as Aldi, Greggs, KFC, Tesco etc. He and Aimee then hand out the
provisions during the week to people who have used up their allocation of food
bank vouchers and to the homeless. The pair also provide home cooked meals for
people at the church community centre, even delivering parcels to families who
might otherwise struggle to get to the venue in North Bridge Street, at the
right time.

“We
had a lady, an asylum seeker, who has four young children, but was unable to
get to the church, so we put a parcel together and dropped it off at her home,
she was incredibly grateful.”

He
added: “I often get asked how I navigate my day, this really comes from my
upbringing. I grew up in a small village, to a single mother, with four other
children. We rose at 4am, sold goods to buy breakfast, then went to school for
7am, finished lessons at 2.30pm and were back selling items until 8pm to help
buy dinner. That work ethic is in me. You had to take
responsibility for yourself from a very early age.

“By age
15 I was living alone, paying my own rent and paying my own way.

“I loved doing it, because
whether I like it or not, at every point in our lives there are people who are
always worse off than ourselves. I feel like I have this platform to help
people, so why wouldn’t I do it?

“I hope I am a good role model
for my children, Aimery 14, Peter Jr, six, and Aimee-Rose, three. They all help
out at the church, where we have a mission to feed the people of Sunderland’s
community spirit, soul and body by providing food, clothes and health
awareness.”

Asked what the future holds,
Peter says he hopes to use his PhD to become a senior lecturer at Sunderland
and also work with local companies to promote the benefits of CSR. He hopes to
open a charity shop, which further supports the work of his church, raising
more funds to continue its community work.

He also added that his own
family love the area and are happily settled here. After 13 years of teaching,
Aimee, in her 30s, is also changing careers, and studying a degree in
Social Work at Sunderland to further boost their passion for community work.

What advice does Peter give to
other students on their own journey at university?

“I
always tell students once they’re registered and settled in, to go out there
and look for volunteering work. That is very important and great for your CV
and self-development.

“It’s also how I landed my
academic tutoring role. I was trying to get a teaching/lecturing job but was
hitting a block and was told I didn’t have the experience. So I decided to
volunteer as a teaching assistant twice a week with the University of
Sunderland last year. This eventually led to my academic tutoring role that I
now have.”

He added: “If you can see
beyond the present and what you can get now, volunteering is very good, it
gives you opportunities where you’d least expected it.”

Associate Professor in Cultural Management, Dr Derek
Watson, said: “Peter is an exceptional student, parent and contributor to the
community. His impact at our University have been tremendous in terms sharing
his learning journey and global insights with fellow doctoral students,
academics and businesses.

“Furthermore, Peter is testament on how to successfully
balance our work-life commitments and his actions are certainly an inspiration
to our learning environment.”